Virtual Town Hall on community nursing's response to Covid-19 happening February 26! Register by this Saturday to join us next Friday |
After exploring the many ways that Covid-19 impacted hospitals and nursing schools, and the responses, lessons learned, and best practices arising from the many challenges experienced there, the Consortium turns its attention to the community nursing experience. Register by Saturday February 20 and plan to join us at 11:00 am on February 26 for the last installment of our Virtual Town Hall Series on the theme Covid-19 in the Year of the Nurse; Turning Novel Challenges into Best Practices. Our outstanding panel will be moderated by Betty Bel, MHS, RN the Vitas Healthcare Vice President for Operations for
Monroe, Miami Dade, and Broward Counties. She will be joined by Yesenia Diaz Villalta, DNP, MSN, ARNP the Florida Department of Health Administrator for Miami Dade; Leslie Schlienger, MSN, RN, CRRN, CCM the Home Health Administrator for the John Knox Home Health Agency in Broward; and Gwendolynn Randall PhD, CRNA, APRN, Associate Professor
& Assistant Chair Union University. For a program flyer, please click here. Register now for as little as $25.00! 1.5 contact hours will be provided. Our virtual town hall series has been made possible through the generous support of presenting sponsor Broward Health. Vitas Healthcare is sponsoring the upcoming webinar on the community experience. |
Accelerating Health Equity: a virtual
conference on community health, diversity and inclusion
The American Hospital Association’s Community Health Improvement Initiative and the Institute for Diversity and Health Equity are hosting a virtual event, "Accelerating Health Equity" March 16–18, 2021 with thought-provoking plenary sessions and dynamic breakout sessions. Camara Phyllis Jones, M.D., senior fellow at the Morehouse School of Medicine’s Satcher Health Leadership Institute and Cardiovascular Research Institute, will give keynote remarks on the roots of health disparities. Please click here for additional conference information and to register. The non-member registration fee is $199.00. |
A case for trustee focus on nurse retention
Nurses make up the largest component of the hospital staff and are accountable for the majority of touch time with patients. Nurses help drive organizational and financial performance, including improving patient safety, satisfaction and outcomes, so high nurse turnover can be costly in a number of ways. That’s why it’s important for hospital boards to play a major role in curbing nurse turnover. To do that, board members need to understand the issues that drive turnover. Please click here to read the article by Kristin Baird that includes key questions trustees should ask to address the challenge of nurse retention. |
Penn freshman nursing student invents wearable night-light for nurses
Anthony Scarpone-Lambert, a 21-year-old freshman nursing student living in a campus dorm at the University of Pennsylvania, and a co-founder have invented a simple night-light device that nurses can wear to avoid disturbing patients during nighttime interactions. The wearable night-light is called Lumify Care. The associate director of Penn Engineering Entrepreneurship, Jeffrey Babin, praised the invention as a simple but elegant solution to the problem of hospital personnel disturbing patients while providing attention at night-time. Scarpone-Lambert is from a working-class family in Chalfont PA. He is one of just 300 undergraduate students in his group who were the first in their families to attend college. As part of his academic schedule, he participated in clinical work at the emergency department of the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania where he gained first-hand experience on how nurses perform under great stress. His cofounder on the invention is Jennifferre Mancillas, a registered nurse whom he met at an entrepreneurial conference. They recognized the problem of hospital patients not getting enough sleep when nurses turn on intrusive overhead room lights. After interviewing 250 nurses, they found that during a single night shift, nurses may turn on their patient’s room light an average of nine times. The new Lumify wearable night-light avoids that need and allows the nurse to work with little disruption to the patient's sleep. Please click here to read The Philadelphia Inquirer article by Alfred Lubrano.
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Nurse wearing the Lumify night-light as she attends to patient. |
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Countering otherness and fostering integration within work teams
A new article by business coach Sabah Alam Hydari, published by McKinsey & Company, focuses on workable strategies to help companies overcome the growing problem of discrimination and intolerance in the workplace. She shows how recent events, compounded by the impact of the coronavirus, have raised the level of awareness of insidiousness, subtle and systemic racism and how there is a rising willingness to overcome microaggressions at both the personal and professional level. For companies, especially those that, as a result of the pandemic, are shifting toward a hybrid mix of virtual and on-premises workers, these changes, she says, present an opportunity. She asks, “What if business leaders could use this moment to increase the trust and performance of the teams they depend on by eliminating the interactions that cause some workers—whether virtual or on-site—to feel disadvantaged, excluded, minimized, or deflated? She draws on extensive personal and professional experience to provide a process that can forge team inclusiveness. Please click here to read more. |
CDC releases guidelines for vaccinating homebound persons
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has issued guidelines for COVID-19 vaccination of homebound persons. These injections present unique challenges to ensure the appropriate vaccine storage temperatures, handling, and administration to ensure safe and effective vaccination. The definition of homebound persons include those that need the help of another person or medical equipment such as crutches, a walker, or a wheelchair to leave their home, or their medical provider believes that their health or illness could get worse if they leave their home, and they typically do not leave their home. The CDC information provides guidance on management of vaccines and vaccination for persons vaccinated at home or in small group settings (e.g., residential facilities, group homes). It is essential that healthcare professionals receive training to effectively meet the demands of their roles. Training must be ongoing because new COVID-19 vaccine products are likely to become available, and vaccine recommendations can change as we learn more about the vaccines and work to improve the vaccination process. Please click here to read more.
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FAU creates registry and repository to advance COVID-19 research
Consortium Member Florida Atlantic University has launched a registry and repository to contribute to new discoveries and knowledge related to COVID-19. Researchers at FAU are recruiting participants who have had a positive test and collecting blood and saliva samples for the repository. Specimen collection will support research efforts related to the novel coronavirus transmission and will enable scientists to develop new approaches for prevention and control, as well as novel therapeutics that may provide broad benefit for future public health, biomedical and translational research initiatives. In addition to studying current research questions, these samples also will be stored for future investigations. The new registry and repository is spearheaded by FAU’s Institute for Human Health and Disease Intervention (I-Health), one of the university’s four research pillars, and FAU’s Clinical Research Unit. The research team includes scientists and physicians from FAU’s Schmidt College of Medicine; Charles E. Schmidt College of Science; College of Engineering and Computer Science; Christine E. Lynn College of Nursing; and Division of Research. Please click here to read more |
Aventura Hospital and Medical Center recognized as one of America's 250 Best Hospitals
Aventura Hospital and Medical Center, a Consortium Member, has achieved the Healthgrades 2021 America's 250 Best Hospitals Award™. The distinction places Aventura Hospital and Medical Center in the top five percent of nearly 4,500 hospitals assessed nationwide for its superior clinical performance as measured by Healthgrades, the leading resource that connects consumers, physicians and health systems. The Healthgrades America's 250 Best Hospitals Award had, on average, a 27.4 percent lower risk of dying than if they were treated in hospitals that did not receive the award, as measured across 19 rated conditions and procedures for which mortality is the outcome. Please click here to read more.
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CDC lifts COVID-19 quarantine requirement for
fully vaccinated individuals outside health care
Most individuals fully vaccinated against COVID-19 for at least two weeks and no more than three months need not quarantine after exposure to someone with suspected or confirmed COVID-19 if they have not had COVID-19 symptoms, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in an updated guidance. The guidance generally applies to people who have received a second Pfizer or Moderna vaccine dose, excluding vaccinated health care personnel, inpatients and residents in health care settings. However, CDC said the guidance could be applied when considering work restrictions for fully vaccinated health care personnel as a strategy to alleviate staffing shortages, and that exposed health care personnel would not be required to quarantine outside of work. Health care facilities also could consider waiving quarantine for vaccinated patients and residents when needed to mitigate critical issues, such as lack of space, staff or personal protective equipment. The agency expects to update the guidance when more data and additional COVID-19 vaccines become available. |
Societal factors that influence health: a framework for hospitals
While much of health happens beyond the walls of hospitals and health systems, hospitals as community cornerstones, recognize that to improve health equity, the societal factors that influence the health of patients and communities must be addressed. Recent events — COVID-19 and the social unrest around racism and equity — add a sense of urgency to this essential work. The American Hospital Association has developed a framework that sets forth three distinct, yet connected, levels that address patients’ social needs, social determinants of health in the community and the systemic causes of inequities. For a copy of AHA’s Societal Factors that Influence Health Framework, please click here. |
FDA authorizes new combination antibody therapy
The Food and Drug Administration has authorized administering the monoclonal antibodies bamlanivimab and etesevimab together to treat patients 12 and older with mild-to-moderate COVID-19 who are at high risk for progressing to severe disease but not hospitalized or on oxygen therapy. Issued to Eli Lilly and Co., the emergency use authorization also authorizes the treatment for patients 65 or older with certain chronic medical conditions. In a clinical trial involving 1,035 non-hospitalized adults, a single infusion of the two antibodies reduced hospitalizations and deaths related to COVID-19, although its safety and effectiveness are still being evaluated. The combination therapy also reduced the risk of resistant viruses developing during treatment when compared with bamlanivimab alone, which received an EUA last November. For more information, see the fact sheet for health care providers.
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CDC study highlights importance of good mask fit
A report released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention highlights the importance of good fit to maximize mask performance. CDC conducted lab experiments with dummies to assess two ways of improving the fit of medical procedure masks: wearing a cloth mask over the medical procedure mask; and knotting the ear loops of the medical procedure mask, then tucking in and flattening the extra material close to the face. Each modification substantially reduced wearer exposure, CDC said. |
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